Strunk & White House: SSA Official Proofs Independent Lobbyist Report

The Pentagon? Not so responsive on the fact-checking, according to Michael Isikoff. The Social Security Administration? Maybe a little too responsive:

From Congress Daily: “Senate Democrats are investigating whether Social Security Administration Assistant Commissioner Andrew Biggs violated a federal ban on congressional lobbying by federal employees when he edited the prepared testimony for a lobbyist [named Derrick Max] appearing before a recent Democratic Policy Committee Social Security hearing, Senate aides said Wednesday.”

Max and Biggs believe that what they did was okay, because they’re personal friends, and because the edits Biggs made were minor, and mostly grammatical. Here, for example, is what appears to be Biggs’ advice on how to deal with split infinitives: “Include some info from the doc we put out yesterday; it shows that widows and divorced women do better than scheduled and the plan pulls a lot of them out of poverty.” — GREG BEATO

Senate Dems target SSA official for promoting Bush plan
[GovExec.com]
Nonpartisan Testimony Gets White House Edit [LA Times]

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